37-year and 39-year assessments
We currently are conducting a comprehensive health assessment on our participants at ages 37 and 39. The key aims are to determine the degree to which exposure to different types and amounts of stress at earlier points in development are systematically related to health outcomes at ages 37 and 39, including both self-reports of health status and health biomarkers (e.g., C-reactive protein, cortisol patterns). We are also attempting to identify the early-life factors that protect (buffer) individuals who have been exposed to stress early in life from experiencing later health problems.
Second generation assessment
We ask our participants who have children between the ages of 12-months to 42-months if they would like to participate in a series of tasks with their children. These tasks are the same ones that they (the participants) did with their mothers many years ago. At 12-months, we assess the quality of the parent-infant attachment using the Strange Situation. At 24-months, we observe each parent and child in a problem-solving situation. At 42-months, we observe each parent and child interacting in a series of teaching tasks. These data are helping us understand intergenerational transmission processes.
Recent doctoral dissertations from the project:
Shaffer, A. E. (2007). Comparing multiple types of boundary dissolution in adolescence: Relations to childhood antecedents and early adulthood outcomes. Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Haydon, K. C. (2008). Pathways to generalized and partner-specific attachment representations in adulthood: A developmental perspective on the organization of romantic behavior. Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Kovan, N. M. (2008). The continuity of parenting across two generations using a prospective, longitudinal design. Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Quevedo, K. (2008). Developmental risk factors and patterns of continuity leading to adult depression. Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Coffino, B. (2009). The role of depression and social relationship in the intergenerational transmission of parenting. Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Whaley, G. J. L. (2010). Factors related to the development, maintenance, and/or resolution of unresolved/disorganized states of mind regarding abuse in a sample of maltreated individuals. Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Shlafer, R. J. (2010). Intergenerational transmission of criminal behavior: Understanding the effects of family criminality, interparental violence, maltreatment, and hostile parenting. Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Hesemeyer, P. S. (2011). Relationship tension and contextual stress as factors promoting discontinuity in parenting quality across time. Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Salvatore, J. E. (2011). Moderating processes in the link between early caregiving and adult individual and romantic functioning: The distinctive contributions of early adult romantic relationships. Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Kuo, S. I. (2013). Work and relationship balance in adulthood: An exploration of concurrent correlates, predictive validity, and
developmental pathways. Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Puig, J. (2013). Mitigating the effects of early experience: Adolescent social functioning as predictor of adult health. Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Raby, K. L. (2014). Developmental antecedents of electrodermal reactivity in adult romantic relationships. Doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.